The Simpletivity Blog

You probably use a to-do list of some kind right now. But is it an EVIL list? You may be using a tool that is actually hurting your productivity more than helping. Here are some signs that you may have an EVIL to-do list:

Too Equal – Some tasks are very important while others are not. But too often we treat our lists as if every item is worth the same value. We tell ourselves that we must be productive since we are checking things off regularly. But if you’re not getting to your most important items first, you might have a ‘too equal’ problem.

Too Vague – Do you have any tasks on your list that look like this: ‘Marketing report’, ‘Launch product’ or ‘Website’. If so, you might have a vagueness problem. These types of tasks don’t really tell you anything about what needs to get done next. As a result, you waste too much time thinking about what to do instead of actually executing.

Too Inactive – Do you review and revise your task list at least once a day? Or is your list an ancient document that always seems out of date? Priorities change quickly and you need a task list that keeps up with your pace of work. A neglected list might be making you pay too much attention to ‘no longer important’ tasks.

Too Long – How many tasks do you currently have on your to-do list? 12? 25? More? It’s extremely difficult to focus on what’s important when we have so many items to filter. As a result, we often start tackling less than important items in an effort to quickly shorten up the list. Having a list that is too long or with due dates too far out can sabotage your productivity.